* My AP basketball poll, Pac-10 ratings (the first of the season) and Bay Area rankings are all coming early in the week.

* My final AP football poll is due Thursday night, following the NCG. I’ll post it on the Hotline as soon as I email it to the AP office.

* I’ll also have my uber-early, sure-to-be-updated-many-times, top-25 for the 2010 season posted by the weekend.

Action: Cal tailback Jahvid Best declares for the NFL Draft.Reaction I: Have to think Toby Gerhart will be doing the same in the next few days.Reaction II: Calling my shot now: Best will not be a first-round pick. I think he’ll be downgraded because he’s a small back who has been hurt multiple times and because Reggie Bush hasn’t had the impact many expected … and Best is viewed as being very similar to Bush.Reaction III: What does it mean for Cal in ’10? It means Shane Vereen begins the season as the featured back (the Bears could do a lot worse). But who’s No. 2? Jeff Tedford declined to name Covaughn Deboskie-Johnson as the backup (“It’s not a slam dunk”), even though he played that role down the stretch. Tedford expects Isi Sofele and Dasarte Yarnway to compete for the gig.Reaction IV: And for all the durability Vereen showed, and the 42 carries for 193 yards against Stanford, Tedford said he wants to continue the practice of splitting the carries between two or three TBs: “The goal is to make sure we don’t put too much on one guy — that’s why developing the younger guys is so important.”

Action: Cal thumps Stanford 92-66, the Bears’ biggest victory in the series since 1986.Reaction I: It could have been 110-55, had Cal wanted it to be 110-55.Reaction II: The Max Factor cannot be ignored. Yes, that was Stanford out there, trying to stop the 7-foot-3 Max Zhang, and just about every team in the Pac-10 is better equipped to handle him than the Cardinal. But in a league as mediocre as this one, with as few quality big men as it has, Zhang could be a factor on a weekly basis.Reaction III: The blueprint Cal used to contain Landry Fields (put a top defender on him, and give plenty of help) will surely be used by everyone else in the conference. Stanford cannot reach a level of respectability if Fields is as inefficient as he was Saturday (20 points on 24 shots).Reaction IV: Stanford’s lack of depth will be a bigger issue over the next two months than its lack of a dependable post player or veteran point guard.Reaction V: An impressive win could be very costly for the Bears if Jorge Gutierrez is seriously hurt (initial diagnosis, according to Cal: twisted knee). His physicality and defense — plus the versatility he brings — will be critical for surviving and thriving during the two-month grind.

Action: USC self-imposes penalties on its basketball team, including loss of a scholarship and one-year post-season ban, for O.J. Mayo infractions.Reaction I: It’s the smart approach, the only approach: Throw basketball under the bus and hope pray the NCAA goes easy on football.Reaction II: I’d call the sanctions moderate: Returning the money and forfeiting the games are window dressing. Losing scholarships and postseason bans are the real penalties, and USC docked itself one scholarship over a two-year period and a took a one-year NCAA tournament ban. The guess here is thatthe Pac-10 and/or NCAA to toss a few more sanctions on the pile — and they’d be justified in doing so. But the fact that Tim Floyd is gone will work in the Trojans’ favor.Reaction III: We’ll see how motivated the Trojans, with no shot at the NCAA tournament, are for their Bay Area trip this week — and for every game the rest of the way. They could end up losing a bunch of games they might otherwise have won, which means other teams could collect some victories that might otherwise have been losses.Reaction IV: Shouldn’t athletic director Mike “We take NCAA rules violations very seriously” Garrett’s job be in jeopardy? Yes. (He’s in charge of the multi-front mess in Heritage Hall.) But best I can tell, it isn’t.

Action: Washington loses at home to Oregon by 11 points.Reaction I: I’m starting to contemplate the scenario in which the Pac-10 sends only one team to the NCAAs (the conference tournament champ).Reaction II: And it seems like the best chance for that nightmare to become reality would be if Cal wins the league tournament — as things currently stand, the Bears are probably in the best position to receive an at-large berth.

Jon Wilner

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I had hopes for this year’s Stanford Hoops Team, during the nonconference slate. Not unrealistic NCAA hope. But I thought for sure a return to the CBI, with an outside shot at the NIT. But after Saturday’s depressing showing vs Cal, I’m wondering if they’ll win another game this season.

Esquire Joe

I’m never one to build up the Stanfurd folk, but take it from an Old Blue who has seen more than his share of bad basketball teams. In the Pac 10, there is rarely a team that is so bad as to not even be able to win a game.

Even on “bad” P10 teams, there is quality talent. Maybe not enough or maybe it’s too young to be consistent, but in this league – year in and year out – even the bad teams jump up and bite someone that is supposed to be way better than them.

In fact, I submit that it’s easier to root for a terrible P10 team than a “great” P10 team. Even though you know you’re going to have to sit through some painful losses (like Saturday), you also know that there will be at least a couple of games this year when your team puts it all together and plays its best. And there’s a very good chance that one of the teams they beat that year will be one they have no business beating.

On the other hand, even when you have your school’s best possible team that year – the best the school’s ever fielded – chances are pretty good that they’re going to suffer at least one painful, maddening, hair-pulling loss to a P10 bottom feeder.

And the teams that go 0-18 in the P10 may be bad teams, but chances are that the reason they didn’t have one or two of those wins has more to do with bad coaching or unmotivated players than with the talent level.

The Wisdom Cow

Not sure you have been watching the Cal preseason, JW. Max has been very good. The problem has been with expectations. People see his hieght and weight listings and assume he is a center a la Shawn Bradley, but he is much more of a quick, thin forward playing the 5. I would love to see him playing along side MSF (though it would be way to easy for our bigs to be in instant foul trouble, so it won’t happen). Max has been showing effort similar to Jorge (and it would be huge to lose him to injury more for his energy than his actual physical contributions). Anyway, my point on Max is that he has shown flashes of what he did against Stanfurd all preseason, just not getting the minutes, primarily because of MSF, fould trouble, and the occasional HUGE line that roughs him up (KU, SU).

I am really excited as to how the stars have aligned for Max to really emerge this season. He won’t be a star player (though he is on campus). It is that he will do very well against this down Pac 10 year, and he is only a Sophmore. He should be a solid post presence for the Bears the next two seasons.

Anyone else notice the two times he and Randle did the pick and roll very similar to how Biedrins gets it in a Warriors game. I think Max’s game may be able to mirror Biedrins in many respects, which would be fantastic.

Don’t be too down, Stanfurd fans. It seemed like a Harmon blowout vibe in Haas on Saturday. Every once in a while, things snowball in there. We have blown out some good teams in the past when that building is rocking (UCLA, AZ). I saw some good moments from your squad, especially the attitude of some of your players to keep hustling down by 20, that earned a lot of respect.

Brett

The basketball sanctions sound about right, although very few people would care much if they were harsher. I’m sure they’re attempting to deflect attention from football, which frankly I’m fine with. However, I hope it also involves Mike Garrett, Pete, and everyone else cracking down on the football team internally. The temptations are surely many, and you can’t expect good results if you play fast and loose with a bunch of 20 year olds being lured by the many agents, boosters, etc.

Trojan Brett

Oops, the full name didn’t get entered.

Clunky

Best will be a first round pick if he runs 4.33 or better at the combine. Chris Johnson, Felix Jones, and Jamaal Charles are all counterpoints to your Reggie Bush comparison.

The Wisdom Cow

I honestly believe that McKnight and the court decision against private arbitration in the Bush case are directly related to the self-imposed penalty B-Ball took. It is all about timing. Would they have self imposed these penalties if it did not look like football was in imminent trouble? They will claim institutional control, “look at the penalties we self imposed!” Will the NCAA really take that in the face of coaches seeing McKnight show up to practice in an SUV and not ask a single question? Probably.

I wonder if U$C would have as much power if a pro team was in LA to steal market interest. They have an entire market (virtually) that pro organizations salivate over. The NCAA gets big $ from TV in the region. The big penalties U$C deserves will never happen so long as so much money is a stake.

Papa John

Don’t know what game you were watching, JW, but Stanford clobbered Cal, 79-58!

Go Stanford… women!

Also, now that Zorn has been fired by the Redskins, can we assume that the Jim Harbaugh-to-the-NFL rumor season has officially begun? Frankly, I always believed that the ND and KU rumors were merely the preseason. Now is when the serious talk about Harbaugh’s almost-certain departure commences. Although I am still a bit mystified as to why an NFL team would hire him…

Papa John

Anyone want to predict for which team Jim Harbaugh coaches in 2010? I was thinking Chicago Bears but apparently they are going to stick with Lovie Smith for at least another year. That increases (slightly) the odds that he will stay with Stanford.

StanTheMan

Harbaugh will be coaching Stanford in 2010, after which both he and Luck will go to the NFL.

Mike Singletary will be the next head coach of the Chicago Bears.

milo

JW, Jahvid Best thanks you for the reverse curse you just threw on him. If Wilner says 2nd…he’ll go in the first. Yes Best has durability issues but if he runs the combine and blows by people like he can and will…AND the DeSean Jackson quote from a few years ago appears (i.e., Best is faster) then his speed will be too much to ignore. My only disappointment is that Best wasn’t used an optimum way while at Cal. Tedford should have played Best like how he’s playing Sofele (fly/slot) but with 40% at RB. Oh well…hugely likable kid, will have a decent NFL career…and NEXT. Cal reloads.

The Max Factor is real and it’s been great to watch his improvement. If he can put in 15-18 mins, score 8, grab 4 rebs and block a few shots and get the crowd involved, he’ll be a big asset. He totally threw off Fields with two blocks. Max is a great, great story and the crowd loves him…but lets not forget the straw that stirs the drink, Jerome Randle. He quietly scored 24 pt and had 7 assts (Monty said it was more like 11 but there were flubs).

Regarding $C…if a player receives cash from the coach or the coach has a clear understanding, it should be a death penalty. Instead $C will receive a groin kick and hand up.

Stanfurd, I think Harbaugh sticks around another year. Next year there will be better job ops (UMich, Bears) plus he’ll be able to leverage more from more teams.

lesliemedford

I’m with Papa John…
Of course I watched the men’s game as well – and support through thick and thin. But the Stanford Cardinal Women’s BB team is #2 in the country, fun to watch, and worthy of more local attention than they receive.

Remember last year’s rather offensive “Changing of the Guard” article in the Merc proclaiming a power shift from Stanford to Cal in women’s hoops? As if Cal was poised to win 34 of the next 37 meetings?

There once was a woman, Ann Killion,
Sportswriter, the Valley of Silicon.
She said pigs had wings:
Lady Bears would be kings!
Tho’ their victories were one in a million.

Leftcoast

Nice Leslie!

I also was thinking of Ms Killion (whose writing and focus I normally liked) as I watched the Cal/Stanford game.

The Wisdom Cow

Yeah Leslie, I have no idea what Killion was smoking then, but I wouldn’t mind some. The Lady Bears are certainly on the upswing, possibly to become a national contender under Boyle, but Stanford’s Womens team, as a program, is 2nd only to UCONN in my mind for as long as I can remember (so much so those who pay attention will notice I even spelled something correctly out of due respect concerning that specific program).

milo

Hahaha…how the mighty have fallen. Two years away from a Sweet 16 appearance and Furd fans are now writing poetry (online no less) about the womens team because the mens team suck so much?

Like OMFG, do you gents want aroma candles and camomile tea with your testicles on the plate?

For pete sake, man up Stanfurd, MAN UP! You guys took it on the chin (and the groin) from your arch-rivals and you guys are writing poetry? Yeah whatever you lads on the pharm are smoking…I want some cuz it has to be crazy a** sh*t, dude!

🙂

p.s. the furd women are excellent…they could probably beat the furd men.

Stanford High Life

No way Cal’s Lady Bears can become a national power in such a short period of time, when it took Tara a while to hone her craft and build the Stanford program.

USC “does” deserve the death penalty! Both major college sports are involved (and maybe others) and have come apart. However, it won’t happen to them. The NCAA is dragging their feet…and we all know it (except USC supporters/fans/players/coaches and alumni…they have done it so long they don’t even recognize it when it hits ’em in the puss)…so that they “make” a high profile admission and self imposed jester on their part to say…”see it’s OK…we are doing the right thing.”

Bush and Mayo are history and McKnight is the current beneficiary of the ongoing scandal that is USC athletics. To think it hasn’t been going on for decades is just what the Trojan’s believe and anticipate that the rest of us will swallow!

Garrett and Pete C. should be fired! Both programs severly hampered for several years by sanctions on scholarships, maybe # of coaches and post season participation. Alas, nothing like that will happen either.

The NCAA, the Pac-10 and college sports needs the media and money market of LA and the Mighty Trojans to continue their ways. It is truly a sham and a shame!

UCB-1955

STANFORD
On his commode Jim does relax
Even though his team lost the axe
The band is a joke and too lax
Get the twins back to stop Cal’s Max!

And what’s wrong with supporting women’s sports? I, and many others, support Stanford Women’s Basketball regardless of what is happening with the men’s team.

I don’t make it a practice to smack other bloggers, but you’ve given me no other choice:

There once was a milo from Cal
Whose writings had no rationale
Though he’d rant and he’d rave
A sh*t no one gave
And thus we preserved our morale.

Anyone for a haiku?

Papa John

Nice effort, UCB-1955. Please give milo lessons.

UCB-1955

BIG GAME HAIKU
One win in eight years
The Stanford Tree is quite sad
And then there’s The Play

The Wisdom Cow

High Life, no doubt about the Vols, but I do put them a close 3rd. I did say “possibly to become” a national conteder, as in – in the future, under her guidance, not in season 2 of her tenure. Sorry if that was not clearer.

Papa, made an err
Wiki is wrong on lymricks
They’re always dirty

Truest & Bluest

With campuses that will make you drool
Cal versus Stanford is very cool
Hoover at the latter
And yes size does matter
The Campanile’s the longer jewel

MEG Hoopster

Tara (whom I love!) came to Stanford in ’85 and has won 3 national championships. Same year Geno (hate him!) arrived at UConn and has since won 6 NCAA championships. During that time Pat Summitt has won 8 national titles at Tennessee.

Scoreboard: Volunteers

milo

Tiger Tiger Tiger, great balls of fire and so randy
And Bob Bowlsby said, he’s no liar, just a dandy
And the chorus sang, low-drag crapper a la Jimmy, where’s the band?

On the Field! And California has the Axe!

Go Bears!

Papa John

UCB-1955, The Wisdom Cow and Truest & Bluest… You have restored my faith in the intellect and wit of Cal bloggers. Thank you.

milo

PJ, Lefty, MK and all the tools
Red-wearing retards and fools
From the lore of the tallest tree…
Forfeit to the mighty, bow down to The Play
And Cal lives yet another day!

Cal 34 – Furd 28

Go Bears!

(see Furd, now you’ve opened a can of poetic whoop ass…you can’t possibly win this)

Leftcoast

Milo is unclear on the concept.

Papa John

Please, no, milo, not a can of poetic whoop ass! Don’t you know that your name means “merciful?”

Actually, VanDerveer has just two NCAA championships to her name, in 1990 and 1992. Stanford at best ranks as the third-greatest NCAA women’s program of the 1990s and 2000s, behind UConn and Tennessee.

Papa John

Sure, VC, Cal has every right to wax on, but is milo your Poet Laureate?

Scott

Since he brought up Sweet 16’s. How many have Stanford gone to in the last 20 years and how many for Cal? How about Final 4’s? These answers smell like roses as in Rose Bowls.

I can’t remember the last time Cal swept Stanford in basketball but if this isnt the year then it might never happen. Who knows though, Landry might go for 40 in his last Maples appearance and keep the streak alive. Then it’s goodbye to Cal’s seniors, welcome Stanford’s top recruiting class and things are back to normal.

FarmBeliever

Are Cal fans seriously saying that women’s sports don’t matter? Ouch. I wonder how well that goes over on campus.

Personally, I loved me some women’s volleyball when I was a student and attended my share of women’s bball. If you can’t appreciate the women’s game, you aren’t a real sports fan. If you want to see precision, skill, and excellent technique, that’s where the action is.

FarmBeliever

As for the poetry fun, here’s my go at it:

The Bears’ 2009 season started out strong
‘Til blowout losses made it feel long
They had hoped for the Roses
But showed up as poseurs
Bent over and getting the schlong

milo

Hey FarmReliever…pretty good, nice and raunchy as one would expect from a Furder. Would that schlong be Tiger’s meant for famous $tanfurd Law School graduate and prostitute, Cristina Schultz? Just asking cuz it seems you Furds are getting the schlong more often then anyone except maybe $C.

BTW, no one from Cal said women’s sports doesn’t matter. Nope I think the inference was more like, “when Stanfurd mens hoops or football suck…you lads turn to womens hoops.”

lesliemedford

FarmBeliever,

Got several good giggles out of that one. Thanks.

What is great about Stanford’s overall athletic success – men’s and women’s – is that there are always compelling student athletes and teams to be excited about. Not just excited by good character, comparitively eloquent student-athletes on all our teams, but WINNING teams too. I know there are many myopic sports fans out there who think only men’s football and basketball matter, and that anything else is for sissies and foreigners. I don’t know what it is these folks are so mesmerized about, when sport, like knowledge itself, is so multifaceted, and men’s football and basketball have brought out the worst in human nature on such a regular basis for so long. These blinkers-on, broken down misogynists try to belittle all other sport, (except PERHAPS baseball, ice hockey and golf), terming them “Olympic Sports” as if that is a pejorative term.

I imagine, on the moneymaking (or audience-drawing) front, nothing compares to the Big 2 (unfortunately), but the next two sports must surely be women’s basketball and volleyball, followed distantly by baseball. (Rugby, for instance, would be perhaps tied for 20th with fencing and synchronized swimming . Just another money losing “Olympic” sport.)

Interestingly enough, in the latest Director’s Cup standings (only football hasn’t concluded for Fall Sports) Stanford is once again out front with 345 points and will pick up a few more with football. Cal has 123 points, taking it hard up the rear in 30th position. Cal won’t get any points from football, chuckle chuckle! Must have been the hubris.